Safety lamp assembly



y L 1941- s. R. BROWNE, JR 2 ,2 73

SAFETY LAMP ASSEMBLY Filed Aug. 20, 1938 INVENTOR 569104 155 ,R.Emu/1245f]: @M,m QM r /ATTORNE Patented July 1, 1941 UNITED STATES, FATEFFICE SAFETY LAMP ASSEMBLY Application August 20, 1938, Serial No.225,870

Inc.,'NeW York, N. Y.,

4 Claims.

This invention relates to portable electric safety lamps and moreparticularly to an improved safety guard or cage and its attachment tothe lamp.

Commonly known types of portable electric lamps comprise in general asocket receptacle mounted in a handle, a flexible cable connector, and alamp bulb guard which may be manipulated to permit the insertion andremoval of the lamp bulb.

Portable electric lamps are frequently used in damp places or aroundmetal apparatuswhich is electrically grounded, so that there is aconstant danger of the user receiving an electric shock if he touches anexposed metal portion of the portable lamp. For this reason, thehandles, socket receptacles, and other exposed exterior parts arepreferably made of non-conducting materials instead of metal. In thepast some were constructed of soft rubber, for example, which is notdurable and deteriorates too readily on contact with oil and other suchsubstances frequently encountered in use. Other lamps have employed intheir constructionrigid nonconducting plastics or fibres; but in thesethe means provided for attaching the lamp guard to the handle are eithercomplicated by reason of a multiplicity of separate parts or require theuse of extra parts or tools to attach and detach the guard. Lamps ofthis type are relatively fragile and readily injured by rough usage.

It is an object of this invention to provide in a portable safety lampsimple and effective means including permanently connected parts,whereby the guard portion may be easily at-' tached to and detached fromthe handle portion without the aid of tools.

It is a further objectof this invention to provide lamp guard attachingmeans which may be made out of standard non-conducting material, andwhich are durable and rugged and not readily injured by rough usage.

These and other beneficial objects of this invention are attained by thenovel structure described in the following specification and which maybe more readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawing,wherein:

Figure 1 shows a side view of a portable electric lamp and guardstructure embodying this invention;

Figure 2 is a cross-section taken on line 2- of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a cross-section taken on line 33 of Figure 2; and 1 Figure 4is an explodedview in perspective of parts embodying this invention andused in the assembly shown in Figure 1 for releasably securing the lampsafety guard to the lamp handle.

Referring to Figure 1, the illustrated embodiment of my invention thereshown includes a combined socket carrier and handle, generally indicatedat 4, and a safety guard or cage, generally indicated at 6 and which isremovably mounted on the socket carrier 4.

As shown more clearly in Figure 3, said carrier comprises a hollow shell8 effectively made of a tough and durable molded plastic insulatingmaterial, such, for example, as a phenolic-resin product commerciallyknown as fTuifite which is made of chopped canvas or other fibrousmaterial, phenol, and formaldehyde.

A socket assembly including a base 9 and a shell-type incandescent lampsocket It] for receiving the lamp bulb 2 is mounted inside of shell 8,preferably in a manner to protect the terminals and metal parts thereinexposed. Accordingly a shoulder 12 of base 9 bears against a shoulder l4provided on the inside of shell 8, one end of which is open for accessto socket l0 and the other end of which is closed around connector cable24. The socket assembly isheld in position and the end of shell 8 closedby means including a cap it threaded into said closed end of shell 8,said cap having an opening to receive and hold the mid portion of a softrubber annulus or sleeve it. The inner end thereof has a double flangedportion 20 which bears against a sponge rubber washer 22 and, when cap[6 is screwed in place, urges it against the base 9 of the socketassembly to hold the latter in position with shoulder l2 resting againstshoulder I l. Cap I6 also holds sleeve I8 against outward movement, aswill be clear from Figure 3.

The rubber covered or other connecting cable as 24, passeslongitudinally through sleeve l8, and through rubber washer 22 to theconnecting posts 26 on the socket base 9 and is firmly secured inposition to prevent it from being torn loose or displaced endwise fromor in the handle by rough usage. This is conveniently accomplished bymeans of a clamp 28 including screws 30 embracing sleeve l8 between thetwo inner end flanges 20 thereof, thus clamping the flanged end portionof sleeve l8 firmly upon the connecting cable 24.

The construction above described makes a tight connection which preventscable 24 from being pulled through sleeve l8 and prevents sleeve I8 frombeing pulled out of the closed end of shell 8. A resilient gasket 32' isprovided be tween the end of shell 8 and the flange of cap 13 so as tomore firmly and tightly secure these parts in operative position.

At its open end, shell 8 is provided with means for releasably attachingand detaching the guard or cage 5. For this purpose an annular outerflange 3d concentric with the main portion of shell 8, as shown moreclearly in Figures 2, 3, and 4, forms an annular space 35 around the endof shell 8 to receive and retain portions of said cage 6, as willhereinafter be described.

The safety lamp guard or cage 5, as shown, is

formed of resilient fiber strips 36 radially extending from a fiber disc38 and with end portions attached thereto in some suitable manner, as,for example, by rivets 45. These fiber strips together with an annularstrip 42 are arranged to form a suitably shaped guard or cage for thelamp bulb 2, as shown in Figure 1. The opposite or free ends of fiberstrips 36 are secured to segments, as 45, 41, and 48 of a split ring ofinsulating material, generally indicated at 55 and more clearlyillustrated in the exploded perspective view shown in Figure 4. Thesegments 45, 41, and 48, when fitted together form ring 45 which isthreaded on the inside to coact with threads 58 on that part of theperiphery of shell 8 which lies opposite the inner face of flange 34.This ring 45 is made of such size that it substantially fills theannular space 35 between said flange 34 and said threaded portion ofshell 8 when the parts are assembled, as shown in Figure 3.

The guard 6 may be provided with a hook I so that it may be convenientlysuspended from various supports if desired. This hook I, preferable madeof a rugged insulating material, such as the above-mentioned Tufiite, ispivotally attached to the center of the disc 48 by a U-shaped swivel 44.

With a safety lamp embodying the above de scribed novel features, theremoval of the guard or cage and the replacement of a lamp is a verysimple operation wherein the lamp guard 6 with ring 45 is rotated untilsaid ring 45 is disengaged from the threads 50., It is then pulled awayfrom the annular space. 35 betweenthe shell 8 and the flange 34 thereof.The inherent resilience of the fiber strips 36 permits their free endsand therefore the segments 46, 41, and 58 of the ring 45 to separate asshown in Figure 4, and said ends readily pass lamp 2 as the lamp, guard6 is withdrawn from bulb protecting position. The lamp 2 may then bereplaced and the guard ,6 reattached to the socket 4 by a reverseoperation without the use of any tools whatsoever and without losing anysmall separable or separate parts of the safety lamp assembly, whichdisadvantages have been experienced in connection with safety lampstructures previously in com-.

mon use.

It is to be noted that the threads 58 on the socket shell 8 are starteda short distance below the upper edge 31 of the flange 34 so thatwhenthe segments 46, 41, and 48 are pressed together to form ring 45, thering 45 may be inserted: a short distance into the annular space 35 withthe flange 34 operating to hold the segments 46, 41, and 48 together asa unitary ring which will thus bereadily engaged with the threads 58.

I The construction described permits the use of a socket carrier 4 ofrelatively small size so that all of the safety guard attaching portionsof the device are positioned inside of the line of contact of the safetylamp assembly with a flat surface when the lamp is laid or dropped onsuch surface, as is shown by the dashed line XX in Figure 1. Thus, ifthe lamp is dropped on a level surface, the shoulder of the cap l6 andthe fiber strips 35 where they join the hoop 42, take the shock of thefall and thus protect the flange 34 of the socket shell 8 from injury.

It may also be noted that by making the ring 45 of a size whichsubstantially fills the annular space '35 inside of the flange 34, theinner or socket receiving portion of the shell is in effect reenforcedby said ring when the lamp guard 6 is attached to socket 4, so that theflange 34, the ring 45, and the socket shell 8 form a substantiallycontinuous mass of material which is not easily damaged by rough usage.Likewise, with this construction, the flange 34 protects the threads 58when the lamp guard 6 is removed, thus preventing damage to thesethreads by careless handling of the device during lamp replacement.Furthermore, the location of the threads on the inside of ring 45protects them in a similar manner.

I claim:

1. A safety lamp, comprising, in combination, a hollow handle having alamp socket mounted within one end thereof, a portion of the outside ofsaid end being threaded, a lamp guard member comprising a split ringmade up of a plurality of segments and a plurality of resilient stripssecured together at one end and secured at the other end to saidsegments, the inside of said ring segments being threaded to coact withsaid threads on the handle, an annular guide member concentricallymounted on said handle to hold said segments together to form said ringso that the ring may be screwed onto the handle to attach the lamp guardthereto.

21A safety lamp, comprising, in combination, a hollow molded handlehaving a lamp socket mounted within one end thereof, a portion of theoutside of said end being threaded, a lamp guard member comprising asplit ring made up of a plurality of segments and a plurality ofresilient strips secured together at one end and secured at the otherend to said segments, the inside of said ring segments being threaded tocoact with said threads on the handle, a circular guide portionconcentrically mounted on said handle surrounding said threads andforming an annular space between said threadsand the inner surface ofsaid guide portion, said guide portion being adapted to hold saidsegments together to form said ring so that the ring may be screwedontoethe handle to attach the lamp guard to the handle, and said ringhaving such dimensions that it substantially fills said annular spacewhen the lamp guard is attached to-the handle.

3. Asafety lamp, comprising, in combination, a hollow handle having alamp socket mounted within one end thereof, a portion of the'outside ofsaid end being threaded, a lamp guard member comprising a splitring'made up of a plurality of segments and a plurality of resilientstrips secured together at one end and secured at the other end to saidsegments, the inside of said ring segments being threaded to coact withsaid threads onthe handle, an annular guide member concentricallymounted on said handle surrounding the threaded end thereof to hold saidsegments together to form said ring, said guide member extendingslightly beyond the outermost threads of said threaded portions so thatwhen the lamp guard is attached to the handle the segments are heldtogether by the guide member to form said ring before the threads onsaid ring engage the threads on the handle.

4. A safety lamp, comprising, in combination, a cylindrical handlehaving a lamp socket mounted within one end thereof, a cylindrical guidemember formed on said handle at the lamp socket end thereof andconcentric therewith to form an annular space between said guide memberand said handle, threads formed in said annular space on one of saidcylindrical members defining said annular space, a lamp

